Great Lakes One Water Partnership

The Great Lakes One Water Partnership is a multi-year, basin-wide initiative focused on engaging shoreline community foundations as a force multiplier to advance a new era of water management to benefit people and businesses in the Great Lakes Basin. Community foundations supporting lakeshore communities around the Great Lakes basin are uniquely situated to convene leaders, community members and industries across regions to address aging water infrastructure challenges and build capacity for green infrastructure investments across the Great Lakes.

Addressing aging infrastructure challenges by improving both green and grey infrastructure is critical to the future of the Great Lakes. Grey infrastructure refers not only to the pipes and hard systems that transport drinking water, stormwater and sewer water but also to the financing, policies and people needed to build and manage those pipes and systems. Green infrastructure includes greenways, innovative new technologies that replace and complement traditional grey infrastructure, and wetlands, which provide a more natural process for water management. Green infrastructure developments buffer water resources and revitalize waterfronts, both of which invite additional capital investment and elevate civic pride and interest in healthy lakes.

The Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo is working with other Great Lakes foundations to advance collaborative water projects to help secure a sustainable water future for the region by improving the natural and the built water infrastructures that manage and transport water.